On November 11th, 60,000 people mobilised by the Far Right marched through the streets of Warsaw on a Police Independence Day march. Poland and Hungary are two EU member countries where the Far Right has been able to mobilise, greatly encouraged by the Right populist and chauvinist parties that are in government there.

There are some, particularly on the British Left, the Lexiters, who believed that a Brexit vote would open up the way to further progress. In reality, it has been the Right and Far Right in Europe that that has been strengthened. It is a sad indication of the disorientation of the ‘internationalist’ Left over Europe, that it is the ultra-nationalist Far Right that is able to mobile internationally across Europe for its vision of a ‘White Christian Europe’. Because British Left has no alternative vision for Europe, it is leaving it to the Far Right to put forward its European vision to counter the neoliberal EU bureaucracy. Instead the Lexiters are trying to revive a British road to socialism, this time via a Corbyn-led British Left government.

The following two articles are from Tony Greenstein’s blog (see http://azvsas.blogspot.co.uk). The first article describes the politics of the march. The second shows the close relationship between the Israeli state under Benjamin Netanyahu with the Right populist governments of Poland and Hungary, and explains this link.

WHITE CHRISTIAN EUROPE’ –

60,000 FAR RIGHT SUPPORTERS MARCH IN WARSAW

Xenophobic phrases and far-right symbols mark event described by anti-fascists as a magnet for worldwide far-right groups

On 25th November thousands of activists demonstrated in Dublin calling for the abolition of the 8th amendment to the Irish constitution – a section that asserts equal rights to life between the mother and foetus (the wording refers to the “unborn” which assumes that that life begins at conception). The demonstration was in part was a celebration of the decision by ICTU, the Irish trade union congress, to support the call to repeal the 8th. In tribute to recent mobilisations by Polish women, many wore black – the main symbol for the Polish demonstrations.Continue reading “THE STRUGGLE FOR ABORTION RIGHTS IN IRELAND”

As part of our celebration the 1916 Easter Rising, we are posting two new articles. The first is by Allan Armstrong (RCN), and addresses Lenin’s response to in his Irish Rebellion of 1916 (which is also posted). The second comes from the latest issue of Socialist Democracy (Ireland) and looks at the situation in Ireland today, 100 years after the Rising.

1. LENIN AND THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

The Dublin GPO during the 1916 Rising, painted by Robert Ballagh

In the midst of the First World War, following the Dublin 1916 Easter Rising, Lenin returned to the issue of national self-determination. He had already addressed this at the beginning of the year in The Socialist Revolution and the Right of Nations to Self-Determination. Immediately before the Rising, he had also gone on to write The Discussion on Self-Determination Summed Up.Continue reading “THE CENTENARY OF THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916”

Ukraine is an international issue that has caused more confusion than most on the Left. In this article, first posted on Europe Solidarie sans Frontieres (see http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article35480), Jean Batou explains the role of Putin’s Russia and the historical background to revolutionary socialists’ understanding of Russia’s imperial domination of Ukraine.

PAST AND PRESENT IMPERIALISMS: PUTIN, THE WAR IN UKRAINE, AND THE FAR RIGHT

Putin’s Russia is an imperialist state dominated by a capitalist oligarchy that controls the state and that has developed a bellicose attitude toward its neighbors, whom the oligarchy reproaches for having taken advantage of the collapse of the Soviet Union in order to escape its century-long tutelage. Embracing an ultra-nationalist ideology that gives a good deal of space to racism, anti-Semitism, and homophobia, its authoritarian neoconservatism has become a veritable standard for the European extreme right. For those of us dedicated to fighting Western imperialism, be it American or European, an understanding of the Russian state’s imperial nature, of its expansionist tendencies, and of the real nature of its contest with the West is essential. Continue reading “PAST AND PRESENT IMPERIALISMS: PUTIN, THE WAR IN UKRAINE AND THE FAR RIGHT”

The Republican Communist Network is co-sponsoring a series of meetings in Scotland about the current situation in Ukraine. Below we are posting the leaflet that has been circulated at various events.

Ukraine is at the brink of war. It is being pulled apart by imperialist forces, from the East, Russian forces and from the West, NATO, the EU and the USA.

How did it get to this and what has happened to socialist and progressive voices on both sides of Ukraine?

Zakhar Popovych from the Ukrainian Left Opposition and form the Maidan Square protest will be flying to Scotland to give an eye-witness account of the latest developments and offer a socialist analysis of events so far. During his talk he will be addressing the following questions:

* What is the best way to defend a multi-ethnic Ukraine?

* What has been the role of both Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs in creating the situation that allows ethnic nationalist politics to dominate?

* How to maintain opposition to both US-NATO and Russian intervention and support for Ukrainian neutrality?

* How can the voices of ordinary workers be heard as the country descends into war?

In the second article from the RCN’s May Day Special Bulletin, Allan Armstrong (RCN) outlines the significance of current events in Ukraine, the dangers of inter-ethnic conflict allowing imperialist intervention, with the growing threat of inter-imperialist conflict.

“Take a neighbour of ours {Germany}. Our relations are very much better than they were a few years ago. There is none of that snarling which we used to see, more especially in the Press of those two great, I will not say rival nations, but two great Empires. The feeling is better altogether between them.”